The present invention relates generally to animal body brushes, and more particularly to a unique dual-bristle, single or dual-handled type brush having an overall bristle height which is tapered along the direction of the brushing stroke to significantly improve the cleaning and grooming of horses and similar animals.
A wide range of implements for cleaning, brushing and grooming animals"" coats have been developed over the years to address the multitude of cleaning tasks encountered for various kinds of haired animals as they are maintained in differing environments. Implements generally available for equine body cleaning and brushing are of special commercial and professional importance because of the continuing high interest in presenting horses in their best possible light, as well as for the more practical benefit of maintaining the health and comfort of the animal. So, brushes, currycombs, and similar implements abound, as do methods and techniques of using them, but all have one requirement in commonxe2x80x94a good deal of manual effort is needed for their effective use.
Descriptions of typical prior art approaches to equine body brushes may be found in a number of U.S. patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 0,430,077 issued to Jenness in 1890 discloses a horse brush formed from at least two distinct bristle stiffnesses which are arranged with a plurality of taper angles. In use, the bristle arrangement causes the brushed dirt to be caught in the brushxe2x80x94in spaces deliberately left between the bristle typesxe2x80x94requiring striking the back of the brush against some object to throw out the entrapped dust and dirt.
An earlier 1870 U.S. Pat. No. 0,183,758 to Furter discloses a horse brush having two distinct set of bristles interspersed, with each set of bristles having a different height as well as stiffnes. Longer hard bristles are shown interspersed with tufts of shorter, less stiff bristles. Again, the arrangement is directed to producing points of lodgement within the brush which entrap the matter loosened by the longer stiffer bristles.
A similar U.S. Pat. No. 1,401,134 to Butterfield discloses a combined currycomb and brush, where the brush part includes tapered bristles.
Regarding the aspect of brushes for general use having linearly tapered bristles, two U.S. patents are of interest. U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,039 to Pardo and 2,043,758 to Lay both show the tapering bristles structure. In the ""039 patent the bristle taper of a household broom is in a direction orthogonal to the direction of use for the purpose of allowing the forcing of the longer, harder bristles into corners being swept. In the ""758 patent, a push broom has tapered coarse and fine bristles but their taper is set to make the two types of bristles align horizontally in use so as to present a smooth planar sweeping surface to the ground.
Each of these prior art devices functions more or less well within its inherent limitations, but none offers the high degree of effectiveness and significantly increased ease of use provided by the present tapered dual-bristle action, dual or single-handled equine body brush.
It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved body brush for cleaning debris from the coats of horses and other animals.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an equine body brush specially configured to provide the benefits of linearly tapered bristles of two distinct stiffnesses to produce in a single stroke both debris cleaning followed by a sweeping away action of the loosened debris.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide improved handling of the tapered bristle body brush by the inclusion of a pair of longitudinally disposed handles at opposite sides of the brush to assure the proper direction of cleaning and brushing action regardless of which hand the user employs.
A yet further object of the present invention is to provide an improved equine body brush wherein the substantially linear bristle taper is shaped to produce an overall taper angle within a range of 8 and 45 degrees formed between the short, hard leading edge bristles to the longer, softer follow up bristles.
In a preferred embodiment, an animal brush consisting of a palm-sized, bristle-carrying central region, which may be flanked at opposite ends by a pair of contoured handles, is specifically configured to include bristles of two distinct stiffnesses formed into the central region. The bristles are substantially linearly tapered in height so as to present the shorter hard bristles at the leading edge of a cleaning stroke to dislodge and pull up the dander and loose hair, and thereafter to present its longer softer bristles to sweep away the debris preventing it from settling back down on the animal""s coat or from accumulating in spaces within the bristles. The desired short/hard to long/soft action sequence is assured regardless of the hand being employed by virtue of either the oppositely disposed handles or a simpler version.